Crystal Lake Annexes Land To Keep Electronic Billboard From Being Built

An electronic billboard advertises the O2 World multipurpose arena in Berlin 29 January 2008. The O2 World arena is currently being built near the Ostbahnhof railway station and the East Side Gallery. Scheduled for completion in September 2008, it will have a seating capacity for around 16,000 people and will be home to the ice hockey team Berliner Eisbaeren and the basketball team Alba Berlin. AFP PHOTO JOHN MACDOUGALL (Photo credit should read JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images)

An electronic billboard. (Credit: JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images)

CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. (CBS) — An electronic billboard proposed to be built just outside Crystal Lake has city leaders so vexed, they’ve increased the size of the city.

As WBBM Newsradio’s John Waelti reports, the proposed electronic billboard at 4911 Route 14 in unincorporated McHenry County just outside Crystal Lake was to be 35 feet high, and would have violated all kinds of Crystal Lake city ordinances – from its height to the color of its LED lights.

The Northwest Herald reports that Crystal Lake City Council members considered the sign a threat to property values and safety. The city last month got a judge to approve a temporary restraining order to stop the construction of the sign by Cary-based Mixed Media LLC, the newspaper reported.

But that wasn’t enough to be absolutely sure the city had ultimate control over the situation, so Crystal Lake has decided to expand its land area by forcibly annexing the site where the sign was to be mounted, the Northwest Herald reported.

The City Council voted unanimously for the annexation, which Mayor Aaron Shepley calls “the right thing to do for the people of Crystal Lake,” the Northwest Herald reported.

Mixed Media was not amused by the decision, and was “very disappointed in the city’s conduct,” Thomas Zanck, an attorney for the company, told the newspaper.